EON

Unknown Cause Prevents First Soil Test

Phoenix- As scientists on Earth pore over data to try and figure out the cause, the first soil heating and sample test has been postponed.

On Saturday a small scoop of Mars soil was supposed to be deposited on a small screen to filter it, and the particulate was supposed to be directed into a small oven on the Mars lander.

The goal was to heat a portion of the Martian soil to see what gasses and properties were revealed.

All the planning was for naught, as sensors and television images beamed back to earth shows that the scoop for delivery of the soil worked fine, but some unknown factor allowed the Earth to fail to reach the oven area.

While the problem is not yet known, scientific confidence is high as there is good communication with the Phoenix Lander and it appears to be responding otherwise well to electronic radio commands from earth.

Scientists were baffled on Saturday and stated that they will take a few days to test the Lander and try to discover the problem.

“We believe that otherwise everything is working correctly, we just are not sure at this point what the problem is,” said William Boynton.

William Boynton is the scientist with the University of Arizona in Tucson who is in charge of this particular Phoenix Lander experiment.